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Israel to Be Given Remains of 2 Soldiers

Hezbollah, the militant Islamic group that has been fighting the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon, said today that the remains of two Israeli soldiers held for years would be exchanged within 24 hours for Arab prisoners and the remains of guerrillas.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli Army said an agreement had been reached for the "return of the bodies of the soldiers Yossi Fink and Rachamim al Sheik" but gave no other details. The two men were captured in an ambush by Hezbollah, or the Party of God, in southern Lebanon in 1986.

The Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said in a statement on the group's radio station that under the agreement a "limited number" of prisoners held by the South Lebanon Army, a militia allied with Israel in southern Lebanon, would be freed. This seemed to rule out the release of captives held by Israel.